Will Georgia voting controversies discourage voters from turning out?

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In this Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018 file photo, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia Stacey Abrams, left, speaks as her Republican opponent Secretary of State Brian Kemp looks on during a debate in Atlanta.(Photo: John Bazemore, AP)

ATLANTA – Kirk Franklin's "Looking for you" blared from speakers in the parking lot of a union headquarters near Atlanta's Summerhill neighborhood.

Charter buses stood ready to take voters to the polls.

From a temporary stage, Nse Ufot looked out at an audience of about 200 people dismayed by what they say are Republican efforts to suppress Georgia's Democratic vote.

"When they go low," Ufot told the crowd, "we vote!"

In a year when Stacy Abrams could be elected the first black woman governor in the nation's history – and is running stronger than any Democrat in deep red Georgia in years – Ufot's New Georgia Project organized "No Voter Suppression Sunday" to urge supporters to the polls.

Some fear it's already too late.

Polls show Abrams running close behind Republican nominee Brian Kemp. But her supporters worry that a succession of controversies surrounding the vote – a new "exact match" voting law, a mass removal of inactive voters from the state rolls, and reports that some machines are switching Abrams votes to Kemp – could discourage minority and first-time voters from turning out.

Kemp, who as secretary of state is Georgia's top elections official, says every legitimate voter's ballot will be counted.

Oprah talks at town hall in support of Stacey Abrams as Georgia's next Governor.
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Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie says inexperienced voters in particular could be intimidated.

“You have to assume that relative to someone who is more experienced, they don’t know enough about the process and they might be less confident,” she said. “You can’t just register them and assume they are going to go on auto pilot and know what to do.”

University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock sees the opposite effect. He said Abrams is using a timeworn strategy employedby Democrats “to widely publicize a fear that someone is trying to take away your right to vote."

Bullock says he doesn't believe Kemp's office is suppressing the vote. But he says complaints by Democrats will likely spur black and minority turnout.

“I think it’s going to have a mobilizing effect,” he said. “It may bring to the polls some individual who otherwise wasn’t that interested in voting, just to demonstrate that they do have this right, and they are going to protect their right.”

CLOSE

Vice President Mike Pence was vying for the spotlight in Georgia while campaigning for gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp at the same time Oprah and Will Ferrell were in town to support Kemp's opposer, Stacey Abrams.
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Abrams and voting rights groups have accused Kemp of using his office to suppress votes and tilt the election.

Kemp rejects the charge. His campaign spokesman told USA Today that Kemp has made it "easy to vote and hard to cheat in Georgia."

"Any accusations to the contrary are absolutely baseless," spokesman Cody Hall said. "Right now, we have more people on the voting rolls than ever before. That's because of online voter registration championed by Brian Kemp. We also have record turnout for early voting."

Georgia's 2018 election is the first under the state's exact match law, which requires voter registration applications to precisely match information on file with the state's motor vehicle department or the Social Security Administration.

Those voters whose names don't match exactly are placed on a "pending" list for further scrutiny.

The law was approved by the Republican-led legislature in 2017 and signed by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. Kemp's office enforces it.

Critics say exact match laws affect black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters disproportionately, because they are more likely to haveethnic names that produce more errors when entered into databases. They say minorities are also more likely to be inaccurately labeled as non-citizens.

The Campaign Legal Center and other groups are challenging Georgia's law in court.

Danielle Lang, the center's senior legal counsel, called the law "nonsensical."

“The more barriers or confusing procedures you put in place, the more likely people will make the determination that it’s not worth their time or it’s too intimidating or too complicated and stay home,” Lang said. “That is the goal of voter suppression. I encourage folks to not let voter suppression win.”

A spokeswoman for the Secretary of State's Office called the litigation a "publicity stunt" and a "complete waste of our time and taxpayer dollars."

Spokeswoman Candice Broce said every voter on the "pending" list will be able to vote when they show photo identification.

Kemp defends the law. He has described litigation as the work of "liberal activist groups."

“Despite what my friends at the Lawyers’ Committee claim, federal and state law clearly authorize Georgia’s matching process for new registrants, and the 11th Circuit has already ruled in favor of a similar law in Florida," Kemp said in August. "Not a single voter whose status is pending for failure to verify will get rejected this election cycle."

Kemp has also been criticized for canceling millions of inactive voter registrations in recent years.

Abrams' supporters celebrated progress last week when a federal judge blocked Georgia from throwing out absentee ballots and applications because signatures didn't match, and again on Friday, when a judge allowed voters who are flagged inaccurately as non-citizens to vote when they provide proof of citizenship to poll workers.

A spokesman for the state's Democratic Party accused Kemp of "creating a culture of fear" around voting. But he said it should spur turnout.

"For many voters, knowing that Brian Kemp doesn’t want them to vote is a motivating factor not just to vote themselves but also to encourage others to do the same," spokesman Seth Bringman told USA TODAY in an email. "He has made no secret that he wants to see lower turnout."

Ufot, executive director of the New Georgia Project, the voter registration group, saidshe's trying to tell minorities and the young about their rights so they don't skip voting.

During the rally last Sunday, she stressed that voters whose registration is pending should still be able to present a photo ID and cast a ballot.

If that doesn't work, she said, voters should request a provisional ballot.

“Oftentimes people don’t find out about their voting status until they show up on election day,” Ufot said. “So if someone who appears to be in a position of authority… tells you that you can’t vote today, many people will pack their stuff and go home.”

Diane Heller attended the "No Voter Suppression Sunday" rally. She planned to vote early to make sure there were no problems with her vote being counted.

Heller, a 62-year-old black woman from suburban Sandy Springs, said she agrees Kemp’s office is using “unscrupulous” tactics to prevent minorities from voting.

“I think it’s something they are doing out of fear,” she said. “They are afraid of change. They are afraid of our progression.”